A grant from the Women's Foundation of Arkansas has allowed five area schools districts to promote excellence in math and science among girls and to provide them with a new perspective on female career opportunities.

Karron Watts and Sheryl Cox, co-writers of the grant and faculty members in the Math and Science Institute at Arkansas Tech University, said they believed there was a need for girls to see the opportunities available to them in the math and science fields.

"We knew that, in science and math, girls across the nation do not perform very well or stay in those fields after high school," Watts said. "We thought if we had some clubs where they could experience some of the successes of women in these fields, that would encourage them to perform better and stay in math and science after they graduate."

The clubs, called Girls S.M.A.R.T. (Science, Math and Real-world Technology) Clubs, are funded through a grant entitled "Empowering Girls in Math, Science & Technology," which was awarded to the Math and Science Institute in the fall.

Watts said the grant funds equipment called Data Loggers, which the girls use to collect and store data, as well as provides pay for substitute teachers when the club sponsors take girls on field trips and books about women in science.

"The purpose of the clubs is to promote girls staying in math and science," Watts said. "Scores nationwide drop for girls from fifth to eighth grade in math and science, so we know it's an area in which they need to be encouraged to excel."

Clarksville Junior High, Danville Junior High, Dover Middle School, Pottsville Middle Grades and Russellville Middle School currently have faculty members who have volunteered to sponsor local clubs.

Watts said the clubs participate in projects related to math and science as well as attend seminars presented by the Math and Science Institute.

"When we first planned this, we optimistically said we would have 30 girls at the five schools," Watts said. "So we thought we'd have about 150 participate. At our fall seminar, we had three schools attend, and there were 100 girls for just three schools.

"We don't know how many we'll have at the spring seminar, but the teachers have told us to plan for at least double that number."

Misty Talley, eighth-grade science teacher at Clarksville Junior High, said she has about 25 girls participating in the club.

"I'm excited about it," Talley said. "It's providing math and science activities for girls at the middle school level, and there are not a lot of opportunities for them. I hope this will catch on."

Talley's group includes seventh- and eighth-graders, but she said she has talked with teachers at Kraus Middle School, which houses fifth and sixth grades, about participating in the project as well.

The Clarksville club, also sponsored by math teacher Vanessa Ostendorf, has also hosted a math and science night for parents at CJH and is working on a project that will team the junior high students with middle schoolers.

Janet Kanady, sponsor for the club at Dover Middle School, said the girls there have been really excited about Girl S.M.A.R.T.

"When we first started meeting, they wanted to meet every day," Kanady said. "I really like the idea of the girls meeting together. It eliminates the problem of acting less intelligent to impress the boys. It is sad to say, but several of our girls think that guys won't like them if they are smarter than the boys are.

"Marty Luebker, Barbara Griffith and I had talked about forming a girls science club, and when Sheryl and Karron got the grant it was perfect."

Cox said the fall seminar was both a fun and educational day.

Rosalie Colley, the chief of the hydropower branch at the Corps of Engineers, spoke to the girls. But Cox said she and Watts planned an interesting activity to introduce the girls to Colley.

"We had the girls play a version of 'To Tell the Truth,' and we had four ladies trying to make the girls think they were Rosalie Colley," Cox said. "Andrea Lea was one of people on the panel, and she did such a good job with it. They all thought it was Andrea Lea."

Other activities the girls participated in at the seminar included a tower building challenge and group activity where the girls had to untangle themselves from a knot made by holding hands across a circle.

"After the girls came for the seminar, the teachers said this was all they would talk about," Cox said.

Watts said the spring seminar will feature displays from the projects the clubs have been working on as well as other guest speakers.

"We've had people come out of the woodwork that have wanted to help," Watts said.

Both Cox and Watts said they believe the participation in the clubs proves that girls do have an interest in math and science.

"They need positive role models to see that they can do it," Cox said. "A lot of times, all the women they see in math and science are their teachers. We're hopeful this will change that."